Media Advisory: Solidarity BBQ to raise social assistance rates and restore the special diet

ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 19, 2011) - The Provincial Government has been failing Ontario's in-need people and families for too long. In 1996, Mike Harris and his Tories slashed welfare and froze ODSP.

Earlier this year, Dalton McGuinty's Liberals made it tougher to get The Special Diet Allowance, leaving thousands with less money (if any) to meet basic nutritional needs. Even people who have been diagnosed with a medical condition that requires a specific diet won't necessarily get the help they need.

CUPE Ontario and Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) are hosting a Solidarity BBQ on Sunday, August 21st, to fight back against the cuts to the Special Diet Allowance and to demand an increase in welfare and disability rates.